Bardon Mill
The Bardon Mill branch is a former Little Chef restaurant located on the A69 near Bardon Mill, Northumberland. Address and Onsite Information '''ADDRESS: '''A69, Bardon Mill, Hexham, NE47 7EL '''ONSITE FACILITIES: '''Starbucks, BP fuel over the road. History Opened in 1980/81, the Little Chef at Bardon Mill was situated on a single carriageway section of the A69 just outside of the market town of Hexham. The A69 has always been known as a strategic route in the north of England, connecting the two major cities of Carlisle in the west to Newcastle in the east, therefore a Little Chef opening approximately halfway between the two locations at Bardon Mill definitely made sense, given its potential to attract long distance traffic using this major trunk road. Given that Bardon Mill was the only Little Chef to have opened on the A69, the choice of location certainly wasn't bad at all and was in fact a smart move by Forte. Although the restaurant didn't strictly have any other accompanying facilities on site, it was located opposite a filling station, therefore there was always the chance of those who stopped to fill up at the petrol station to dine at the Little Chef as well. Despite being a small site, Bardon Mill certainly had a huge amount of sucess worth celebrating. For example, the period of 1999 to 2016 saw a huge amount of Little Chefs cease trading, falling from 439 restaurants in 1999 to 70 branches in 2016. Some may argue that branches like Bardon Mill would've easily been a casualty for closure, especially given the reason for Permira's closure of 131 Little Chefs in 2004/05 was because these restaurants typically weren't positioned next to lodges. Given that Bardon Mill Little Chef never had a lodge next to it and the adjacent filling station technically wasn't on the same site, it was amazing that the restaurant escaped the endless closures lists over the years. However, trouble was brewing in 2017 when Euro Garages purchased the Little Chef chain and hatched a plan to close them all to replace with their own brands such as Starbucks. This unfortunately resulted in the demise of the remaining 70 Little Chefs in the UK, including Bardon Mill, which closed in the summer of 2017. Many of the reviews stated that if the restaurant stayed open, the restaurant would have had to have been refurbished, but because of the size and type of the building, it would have cost a-lot of money. In early 2018, the building was gutted and converted into a large Starbucks, just like many Little Chefs were. The small entry way was demolished and a small outside dining area was added outside. The toilets were moved to where the kitchen was, and the facade was painted grey to match Starbucks and made more modern. 7389758544_f96c79aa22_z.jpeg|Bardon Mill Interior Bardon Mill Interior.jpeg|Bardon Mill Interior Bardon mill closed.jpg|Bardon Mill shortly after closing in 2017 Category:Former Little Chefs Category:2017 Closures Category:Current Starbucks Sites Category:Little Chefs on the A69